Warriors’ bench shows off motor, starters coast (and sit)

Perhaps it’s a tale of self interest. The Warriors’ starters, with pedigrees and/or salaries that provide security, know that if they finish out of the bottom seven they’ll lose their first round draft pick.

Meanwhile, Golden State’s reserves are only worried about earning minutes and keeping roster spots, and a first-round pick will push everyone down a spot next season.

Rush was on fire, as he’s been all season (32-for-54 this season from 3-point range, an astonishing 59.3%). It’s almost unfathomable that the Warriors were able to add Rush for Lou Amundson and nothing else. Here’s what he said after the game about why he’s shooting so well lately (he’s made 14 of his last 17 3-pt attempts), among other things.

Rush was great, but the key to this game was all five reserves coming in and dominating the fourth quarter, saving a listless Warriors team. It would’ve been interesting to see this “no excuses” basketball team explain away a home loss to the Kings after three days off.

Sacramento owned this contest from the start. DeMarcus Cousins looked like Shaq, and Tyreke Evans turned the clock back to the best portions of his rookie season. But in the end, the Warriors’ bench snatched it away. They forced the Kings into bad possession after bad possession and, while it led to Udoh fouling out, the soft interior defense and gentle fouls that have been the hallmark of Golden State squads for so long vanished. The starters didn’t care. The bench did. Sounds simplistic, but Jackson kept it simple in the fourth quarter (and his starters on the bench), and it paid off.

“I went from negative to positive and it’s all…”

That “Juicy” lyric from Biggie refers to the following segment, where we focus on the good and bad about the Warriors’ 93-90 win over the Kings.

Good: Andris Biedrins started the game with 5 quick points, including a made free throw (first of the season!) to complete a 3-point play. He also blocked 3 shots.

Bad: The offense disappeared over the last 20 of the 25 minutes he played; 3 rebounds over that stretch is pretty weak as well.

Good: Dorell Wright seems to have found his stroke after a slow start to the year offensively.

Bad: What happened to Wright’s defense? That’s at least one of the reasons why he didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter (then again, one could say that about all the starters on Tuesday night).

Good: Udoh’s defense on Cousins and Jason Thompson marked a huge improvement over Udoh’s performance against OKC. Udoh’s paint protection forced the Kings to settle for repeated long jumpers late in the shot clock in the fourth quarter before he fouled out.

Bad: As good as Udoh’s hands and footwork are on defense, that’s how bad his footwork is on offense. Whenever they pass him the ball in the low block he looks like an extremely rigid person trying to remember what he just learned during his first ever dance lesson. As I wrote on Twitter during the game, “Ekpe Udoh takes longer to make a post move than Ralph Barbieri does to ask a question.”

Bad: It’s not hindsight, because I said this on the night of the draft: the Warriors should’ve drafted Isaiah Thomas, who the Kings took with the last pick in the second round. Then again, if they drafted Thomas they probably wouldn’t have signed Nate Robinson.

Good: If the Warriors lost at home to a fairly wretched Kings team led by the Warriors’ head coach from last year, people were going to start whispering about Mark Jackson becoming the next Mike Singletary.

Bad: The Warriors almost lost at home to a fairly wretched Kings team, and each win puts them closer to losing that potential lottery pick the starters seem like they’re hoping to gain as a teammate in 2012-13.

Good: Jimmer-mania never came to pass on Tuesday night. Nothing bad about that, since after experiencing Tebow-mania for the past three months I don’t know if I could take it.

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Yeah, in the first round. I wanted the Warriors take Leonard (although I told Tim Roye they should take Chris Singleton, since most mock drafts had Leonard off the board before the Warriors pick).

“I decided in the first round of the NCAA Tournament that San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard would be perfect for the Warriors.”

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The big picture is-Mark Jackson is now seeing that Monta and Curry together will go nowwhere-just good enough to create middle draft pics and no playoffs.
Funny-but EVERYTIME Smart tried sitting Curry and Ellis last year for long stretches..the team lost. And he was ripped for that.
I cant figure whats the difference,but Monta sure isnt what he was before Jackson.

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When did Smart sit Monta? He averaged the most minutes per game of anyone last year. Who he sat all the time was Curry, which made no sense because he seemed to prefer Acie Law (who’s currently out of the league).

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Sure he did-about three games where Smart rested the duo briefly to howls of criticism when that resulted in losses..and then never did it again. Monta played a ton of minutes,but Smart’s timing and strategy was very bad.

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I wonder if the coaching staff have ever played with the idea of either moving Curry or Ellis to a sixth man role, and inserting McGuire into the starting line-up. The move would make a lot of sense… 1) Defensively, McGuire would be an upgrade to either Ellis or Curry against the top-tier guards in the league. 2) The overlap of size and skill-set (plus and minuses) could be sustained much easier throughout the whole game. 3) One would play more against each opponent’s second team, which would more-often-than-not create match-up problems in the Warriors’ favor. 4) Let’s face it,… Read more »

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Nothing’s out of bounds, but I’d imagine he’s very wary of offending either player since they both think of themselves as starters. Not saying that’s the right reason to make a decision, but he won’t even think of starting Udoh over Biedrins.

Although … Jackson did sit Curry and Lee almost the entire fourth quarter, and Monta and Dorell didn’t see ANY action in the fourth quarter. So the time might be right to start seeing some different starting lineups like you’re suggesting.

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Right now, neither Ellis or Curry are playing well. I’m not quite sure if this is attributed to Curry’s reemergence from the ankle injury, but the on-court chemistry has been lacking, or at the very best inconsistent, since Curry’s return. I think Ellis would be much more willing to take the move to the bench in stride. Plus, it would probably make more sense given a Robinson/Ellis over a Robinson/Curry back-court. You’re probably right though, each players’ agent would not be happy with such a move, given that a move to the bench would probably decrease the players’ overall value.… Read more »

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Beidrens one free throw..has to be some kind of NBA record for a center who starts in the NBA. And what a pitiful record it is.

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Oh yeah-I’m watching the second half on Comcast replay..and the differnce in the team when Curry and Ellis and Beidrens sit is huge…the team hustle is ratcheted up,and the tallers minus Nate, look NBA like..not the starting sub Sahara starving people Sam Kinison yelled about.

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[…] State is in a very precarious position: If they do not finish with one of the league’s seven worst records, they’ll lose their […]

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[…] State is in a very precarious position: If they do not finish with one of the league’s seven worst records, they’ll lose their […]

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